Art
Brutes
the butchered elegance ofGaylord Pasternak
&Gary Manners

July 7 through July 29 2006
opening reception
First Friday July 7th 5-8pm

As
far as I know only two artist have ever leaped off the roof of the
gallery at an opening for their show. We are promised to have a relatively
tame opening as local Portland, Maine artist Gaylord Pasternak, while
not leaping of of the roof this time, will be showing some of his
new work along with fellow local character Gary Manners. (As far as
I know Manners has not leaped off of any roofs).
The title of the show is a reference to the French art term Art
Brut, literally meaning rough art or raw art and was generally
used for the rougher styles of outsider artists, and creative work
of children and the insane. So when applied to the Pasternak and Manners
is is somewhat applicable and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they are not
brutish though their art is rough and akin to the work of so-called
outsider artist. ( a term that is getting more and more blurred).
Manners' recent works are aggressive mixed media pieces with articulately
smashed panes of glass as a central element. Pasternak's deftly abused
surfaces and use of junk objects also display an inner psychological
tension. Their work achieves both expression of love of aesthetics
and anger at the material.

Read the amazing tale of the man called Gaylord Pasternak!(click here)

Gary
Manners' notorious fluxus styled piece Protest is Patriotic Flag Burning Kitproduced in a limited edition of 150 will be given
away to the first fifty visitors to the opening reception on July 7th.

Gaylord
Pasternak Was born an illegitimate child to the Russian poet and writer
Boris Pasternak and an unknowns circus sideshow bearded lady. They
met while Pasternak was traveling in America to promote his epic novel,
Doctor Zhivago. It is unknown when and at which traveling show they
happened to meet, but it is believed to be somewhere between Baltimore
and Albany, during the 1970's. The bearded lady named and kept Gaylord
in a wicker basket, trying to conceal his existence to her employers.
He was often deprived of air and dropped on his head repeatedly, leading
to mild mental retardation. Eventually she was forced to give him
up, and Gaylord was left on a doorstep in Pensacola, Florida. Here
he was taken in by a Baptist minister who tried to teach Gaylord the
ways of the Bible and beat him with a nail-studded stick daily. It
was then that Gaylord developed his aversion to religion and organization
of any kind. He also learned to cut pieces of the pages of the Bible
and rearrange the words into his own text. Even at this early age,
the spirit of resistance and independence was alive and well within
his soiled loins. Gaylord was adopted by a family of cast characters
at Walt Disney World, and would soon be the child performer behind
the mask and costume of Dopey from Snow White. A tragic incident involving
an evil rich girl taunting him with a dirt covered candy apple led
Gaylord to flee on foot with his Dopey mask and no pants. He made
it. A Midwest train led Gaylord to Kansas where he was recruited as
a farm labor hand on an organic spelt plantation. He learned the ways
of farming and masturbation. The wild lands and open spaces of the
Midwest could not tame Gaylord. He sought the populated centers of
his adoptive country and all of the glorious stagnation that they
offered. New York City. Gaylord fell in with the roving gangs of homeless
teenage children and vagrants. He learned the ways of the streets
and performance artists in Greenwich Village. He soon became a member
of a murderous gang know as Anti-Friend Hut. Led by the criminally
insane mastermind Crank Sturgeon and ruthless enforcer of vigilante
laws Clog Wornago, the trio would wreak havoc on deserving and not-so
deserving peoples of nefarious and stand-up character. Their twisted
interpretation of performance art, mental robberies and public exploits
of existence would become the stuff of forgotten legends. The Hut
was dissolved by the International Tribunal in The Hague for crimes
against humanity, indecent public exposure and also just being all
around jerks. Now Gaylord makes collages on his own. If you ask him
about any of his work, he will say, "It is what it is. Maybe
give me a hotdog now. Mmmmmmrrrrrggggghhh, bye."